Yes Bank announces veteran banker Vinay Tonse as new CEO

India’s mid-sized private lender Yes Bank – which has risen out of several crises in recent years – has announced a change in leadership on Thursday, with veteran banker Vinay Muralidhar Tonse to take charge on April 6 as its new managing director and CEO from predecessor Prashant Kumar. Tonse gets a three-year term.

Kumar has been instrumental in guiding Yes Bank out of its near-death experience in early 2020. Yes Bank has seen the forced-but-painful exit of promoter Rana Kapoor from the board in 2019, followed by a 30-day moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in March 2020.

Post this, the RBI then led a reconstruction scheme, after which there was a rescue plan through fresh capital infusion from a consortium of local banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI) .

Kumar then led a clean-up of bad loans with a revised strategy of focussing on high yielding retail loans, particularly personal and used car segments. All of this has helped Yes Bank rebuild the trust deficit it was battling.

After some of these banks sold their stakes in Yes Bank, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) in September 2025 became the largest shareholder in Yes Bank with a 24.22% stake.

The Yes Bank stock has, however, languished in the ₹19-₹24 range at the stock exchanges for nearly a year.

Tonse is a former SBI managing director with over 35 years of experience, spanning across treasury, retail banking, corporate banking, international operations and asset management. At SBI, he had strengthened its customer franchise. He had also led SBI’s overseas operations in Japan for four years.

SMBC’s Rajeev Kannan, who is a non-executive director at Yes Bank, said: “Vinay brings a rare breadth of leadership experience spanning retail and corporate banking, international markets, and asset management. His exposure across Japan and Singapore, combined with his deep understanding of the Indian financial ecosystem, positions him well to lead Yes Bank into its next phase of growth.”

Tonse, on the announcement of his appointment said he will be guided by his personal motto, ‘Make A Difference’, I firmly believe that, collectively, we will continue to make a meaningful and lasting impact.